Who is the author? It should be easy to find who/what organisation is behind an article – is it a reliable organisation?

Can you trust them? Have you heard of them before? What else have they published? Check out the ‘About Us’ section on their website, if they haven’t got one you may question why. Can you find them on other sites?

You can also check if other mainstream news outlets or websites are reporting the same story – if they aren’t, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not true, but it may mean that you should look into it further.

Generally, the more news websites that publish a story, the more likely it is to be true.

Think about why the article has been created and how the creators might want you to think or behave.

There are a number of reasons why a fake article might be published. Sometimes it could be to change your beliefs about something, or to prompt an extreme reaction. Sometimes the aim might be to make money through getting lots of people to click on the link – these types of articles are often referred to as click bait. Other times it could be because the people who publish an article, bloggers, journalists etc. haven’t checked the facts as thoroughly as they should.